SpiffArena, the low-code visual workflow builder, awaits you like a clean canvas…

We recently launched a preview release of SpiffArena at spiffdemo.org. You can learn about it by following this new Getting Started guide and video on our website. For the first time ever, you can work with SpiffArena in a live playground in your browser without installing anything. I am confident this will become the standard way to automate business workflows. Let me explain why.

What is SpiffArena

SpiffArena allows you to draw flow-chart-like diagrams that run like software. Draw a vacation approval process, and you now have an application that will step employees and their managers through that approval process. Draw an introductory order form for your new company, and you now have a website that can accept those orders and kick off the fulfillment process.

If you are willing to become an early adopter, you should know it comes with …

1. Premium support, We have a thriving community in Discord, and service plans available from consulting companies like Sartography, which can provide turnkey solutions or custom internal installations.
2. that is built for growth, “Low code” solutions often offer low effort solutions in the short term, but limit your choices and options in the long term. SpiffArena is easy to use in the beginning, but was designed specifically for the long game.
3. and is open source. If you like what you see, you can run it on your own infrastructure, build your own extensions, examine its source code for security vulnerabilities, and make your own contributions to this global effort.

What can it do?

It allows you to draw a diagram that describes interactions between people and applications, in a way that can be fully automated.

1. It has a Form Builder — To gather information from people using web forms — a simple form builder is in the works, but we fully support RJSF¹ —one of the most robust and complete form definition languages available.
2. It Connects to Applications — There are pre-build connectors that allow you to post messages to Slack, send an email message, or read a record from a remote database. There is a simple framework for creating your own connectors, so you can communicate with anything. And the discoverable connectors are available for use directly in the diagram without needing to write code …
3. It supports Timers — you can build workflows that automatically run every day at 2am, or that wait 3 weeks then send an email reminder that something needs to be done.
4. You can create new APIs — you can design workflows that work like API endpoints. Imagine your marketing department having the ability to modify price lists on a daily basis and, without writing code, provide a tool your web development team can use to grab current prices for all products.
5. It provides custom reports — showing you just the information you need to see.
6. It has a great permissions system — large companies can connect SpiffArena to their single sign on system, smaller companies can use Single Sign-ons available through organizations like Google or Linked In — you can connect your people to groups and assign those groups to fine grained permissions, allowing them to perform specific roles within a workflow.
7. You can write Scripts — sometimes its easier to write 5 lines of code than it is to spend hours trying to get a drag-and-drop interface to do something special. When it is easier to add a bit code, it is always possible to do so.
8. and so so so much more ….

¹ https://rjsf-team.github.io/react-jsonschema-form/docs/

How does it work?

One of our primary goals in developing SpiffArena is to remain highly configurable and extendable. As an open source alternative to many of the glitzy low-code applications on the market, we distinguish ourselves by favoring control and power over beauty and quick wins. We realize that your job, your career, your industry is NOT simple. SpiffArena's role is to provide you with a clean canvas, quality paints, and exquisite brushes. Things that may take time to master, but in the right hands yield exceptional results. We do not offer paint by numbers coloring books. We do not have any crayons. What we offer is a chance to learn and to excel. Here we describe our brushes:

BPMN — Is a mouthful of an acronym. It is a large formal standard for building business process diagrams. It’s been around for over a decade, is managed by the OMG¹, and is used all over the world to handle the most complex of problems: NASA’s Remote Robotics², Amazon’s fulfillment system³, EU Trade Agreements⁴. It can handle these complex tasks because it is a succinct, intuitive, and adaptable notation. Here is a minimal example, showing it in the most simple yet usable form:

The first example diagram you will find on our demo website

Python — Python is the most popular programming language in the world⁵. In large part because it’s not just software engineers that use it. Scientists and citizen developers from many disciplines use this language to perform their daily jobs. It is well suited for “scripting” — which in programmer parlance means writing a small isolated bit of code (5 to 50 lines) to accomplish a very specific task, such as :

• Capitalize all the words in this sentence.
• Figure out the current time in Brazil.
• Add all the requested equipment costs together to create a total amount, and convert it to Euros.

The BPMN standard provides a way to include quick scripts to perform tasks that would otherwise be arduous. Sometimes it is easier to write a bit of code you can find in 2 minutes on Google, than spend 2 hours trying to get something to happen in a drag and drop interface. Don’t waste your time with ineffective tools. Use what works.

“Hello World” is a common way to introduce people to a programming language by showing what is required to write a program who’s only purpose is to say “Hello World”. Here we compare Python to Java, the second most popular programming language and the language most often used with other BPMN based tools.

Python:

print("Hello World")

Java⁶:

class HelloWorld {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello, world!");
    }
}

Combine BPMN, Python and a handful of other standards like Json Schema, REST, and some inventions of our own⁷ and you have a fairly complete picture of what makes SpiffArena stand apart from other “Low Code” systems and other BPMN based systems. To sum it up, We believe:

1. The fastest way is through, not around. We focus on connections rather than independence. SpiffArena should increase transparency within an organization and offer a means to work with (and not thwart) other teams, other people and other applications.
2. People solve problems. We focus on tools, not solutions. We believe that the world is propelled forward by good people that have access to essential assets. SpiffArena is designed to be a tool, in contrast to many systems today that see you as the tool.

Why did you create it, what funds this development?

We were asked to. The seed funding for this open source project has come from two sources that knew this project needed to exist:

1. The University of Virginia — under the leadership of Ron Hutchins, we picked up a Python library called SpiffWorkflow and heavily extended it to better support the BPMN standard. The initial effort was to design a tool to manage the approval of medical research projects, a constantly evolving and complex environment.
2. Status.im — thanks to its co-founder Jarrad Hope we were able to create SpiffArena as a new open source project that uses the SpiffWorkflow library to provide a complete web-based application for running and managing workflows. Status is using SpiffArena to manage the cutting edge of banking using BPMN to form a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Imagine a bank based on shared principles rather than controlling interests.

How do I try it out?

Please check out the Getting Started Article on our website. It will give you a quick overview and provide critical information as you start interacting with this powerful tool. And then, for the love of Pete, talk to us. Tell us what you like and don’t like, what made sense, and what frustrated you. Comment here, or on our web site, or in our Discord channel. We really do believe in Transparency, that the best way is Through, not around, and that the solution to your problems should ultimately be in your hands, and not in someone elses. Use SpiffArena and help support our efforts.

¹ Object Management Group (OMG) is an international non-profit consortium that creates and publishes software standards
² de la Croix, Jean-Pierre; Lim, Grace, 2020, “Event-Driven Modeling and Execution of Robotic Activities and Contingencies in the Europa Lander Mission Concept Using BPMN”, https://hdl.handle.net/2014/53293, JPL Open Repository, V1
³ Kallel, Slim & Cheikhrouhou, Saoussen & Maamar, Zakaria & Guermouche, Nawal & Jmaiel, Mohamed. (2021). From generating process views over inter-organizational business processes to achieving their temporal consistency. Computing. 103. 10.1007/s00607–021–00934-w.
⁴ https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2016-10/eu-customs-bpm-approach.pdf
⁵according to the TIOBE index, https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/, Python is currently the most popular programming language in the world.
⁶ I didn’t write these examples, they were provided by the Google Bard AI to the questions: “Write me a hello world app in ….”
⁷ We’ve designed a series of Connectors and a simple extension mechanism that allows a diagram to send and receive information from other applications — such as sending an email, posting a message to Slack, or getting a persons department and manager from your HR Departments software.